Cleaner air may have brought more storms

Pollution during the 20th century appears to have suppressed North Atlantic hurricanes

The Clean Air Act, which has benefited breathing in many American cities over the last few decades, may have worsened the weather in some places.

New climate simulations suggest that reducing the level of atmospheric aerosol particles produced by human activity might have been the main cause of a recent increase in tropical storm frequency in the North Atlantic.

Aerosol levels have increased since the industrial revolution began, but there have been periods when emissions stalled or fell, such as the Great Depression, World War II and after clean air legislation was enacted in Europe and the United States in the 1970s and 1980s.

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